The Geektastic Films from Sundance 2012 You Need to See

In director Rodrigo Cortes's Red Lights, psychologist Margaret Matheson (Sigourney Weaver) and physicist Tom Buckley (Cillian Murphy) use science and technology to debunk fake psychics. Their biggest challenge lies in unraveling the mystery surrounding the renowned psychic Simon Silver (Robert DeNiro), who has recently come out of retirement. "I started with two words?paranormal hoaxes?because it sounds like an interesting concept," Cortes says of his inspiration for the film, which he also wrote. He spent a year and a half researching both the skeptic and believer sides of the issue. "I read everything, even works of debunkers, of scientists that talk about this stuff, like James Randi and Martin Gardner," he says. "Ninety percent of everything I saw or studied about had natural origin or was a result of misperception or was simply fake. But there's another 1 percent that I simply don't know how to explain."

In addition, Cortes asked the actors to research what their characters in the film believed. "I suggested that they see certain things or I showed them certain spectacles or told them a couple of books to read?always very different, depending on the character they were," he says. "I wanted every one of them to know as much as possible about their emotional and psychological position." (At a Q&A after a screening of the film, Sigourney Weaver said Red Lights "made me more skeptical. Before, I'd always say, 'Sure, that's a UFO!' I was always looking for those... though I bet they wouldn't be so happy to see me.")

Why research both sides so vigorously? Because it was important to Cortes that viewers make their own decisions?and even change their minds a few times along the way. Plus, Cortes says, the devil is in the details: "The difference between good and excellent is always details. Many times, one by one, mean nothing. But the addition of all of them makes a difference. And I'm very interested in putting people in a world they don't know anything about, feeling that they can touch it and feeling that it's real."

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/digital/visual-effects/the-geektastic-films-from-sundance-2012-you-need-to-see?src=rss

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